Category: Age Categories

Kawliga Potts

No PhotoName: Kawliga Potts.
Died: January 27, 2007.
Age at death: 3.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Disability: Developmental delay, possible fetal alcohol syndrome.

Details:
Kawliga was deprived of food and clothing by his foster parent. He died of injuries from being hit in the head.

Case status:
Lily Choy (Foster mother), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 8 years.

Source:
Alberta foster boy’s death a direct result of child welfare failure: judge
New sentence for woman in death of foster child
Report to the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General – Public fatality inquiry into the death of Kawliga Potts

Richard Fowler

Photo of a fair-skinned man with dark hair, mustache, and chin beard, wearing a collared shirt and glasses, smiling for the camera.Name: Richard Fowler.
Died: December 13, 2006.
Age at death: 34.
Cause of death: Beaten.
Location: Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.
Disability: Back injury.

Details:
Richard, disabled by a back injury and having received a worker’s comp payout, was divorced but still lived with his wife. His wife, who wanted the money, plotted with her partner to beat Richard to death.

Case Status:
Angela Dawn Fowler (Ex-wife), pled guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy, sentenced to 13 years in prison and 5 years probation.
Robert Lee Heydman (Wife’s partner), convicted of murder, sentenced to life without parole.

Sources:
Who is Angela Dawn Fowler and what did she do?
Deadly Duo: Angela Dawn Fowler got Robert Heydman to kill her husband, Richard Fowler

Rebecca Riley

Portrait photo of Rebecca Riley, a girl with long wavy brown hair and an uncertain smile.Name: Rebecca Riley.
Died: December 13, 2006.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Drug overdose.
Location: Hull, Massachusetts, USA.
Disability: ADHD, bipolar disorder.

Details:
Rebecca died of a drug overdose. Her psychiatrist had prescribed high doses of medication to begin with, but her parents gave her even more, and eventually she died of poisoning.

Case status:
Michael Riley (Father), first degree murder, life without parole.
Carolyn Riley (Mother), second degree murder, fifteen years to life.
Kayoko Kifuji (Doctor), no charges.

Source:
Rebecca Riley

Ulysses Stable

No PhotoName: Ulysses Stable.
Died: November 22, 2006.
Age at death: 12.
Cause of death: Blood loss.
Location: New York City, New York, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Ulysses’s father cut his throat and left him in the bathtub to bleed out.

Case status:
Jose Stable (Father), convicted, sentenced to three-and-a-half years.

Source:
Solomon, A. (2014). Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. Scribner Classics.
Autism Memorial: Ulysses Stable
Autistic Boy Is Slashed to Death and His Father Is Charged

M.E.

No PhotoName: M.E., possibly Michael Egan.
Died: November 22 (?), 2006.
Age at death: 13.
Cause of death: Neglect.
Location: Unknown; possibly Illinois, USA.
Disability: Unknown.

Details:
M. E. was “starved and deprived [of] medical care by his parents”.

Case status:
Unknown.

Source:
Day of Mourning: The List
SSDI: Michael Egan

Sherry Lavery

Photo of a middle-aged woman with curled dark-brown hair, pale skin,and brown eyes; she is wearing a white shirt, gold earrings and necklace, and make-up.Name: Sherry Lavery.
Died: September 27, 2006.
Age at death: 50.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Disability: Depression, alcoholism.

Details:
Sherry’s husband smothered her with a pillow after she told him she believed she would not recover from her alcoholism.

Sherry, a mother and grandmother, had been a political activist and a campaign manager for an MP, and regularly contributed to her local newspaper’s letters page. She loved the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

Case Status:
Noel Lavery (Husband), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 2 years house arrest, 3 years probation, and community service.

Sources:
Edmonton senior who smothered wife avoids jail | CBC News
Dead woman had alcohol, anti-depressants, in blood | CBC News
Killer of alcoholic wife guilty of manslaughter
Sherry Lavery Obituary (2006) – Edmonton Journal
Trial delayed by technical glitch to resume Friday | CTV News
Mental-health system needs fix

Kathy Wangler

Photo of a smiling woman with light skin and frizzy brown hair, smiling for the camera.Name: Kathy Wangler.
Died: September 4, 2006.
Age at death: 48.
Cause of death: Carbon monoxide poisoning.
Location: Lima, Ohio, USA.
Disability: Epilepsy.

Details:
Kathy’s husband gassed her with carbon monoxide, then called emergency services and claimed she was having a seizure. Kathy was declared dead, and an autopsy determined she had already been dead for half an hour when her husband called 911, calling his story into question. Kathy’s friends also testified that her husband had been psychologically abusing her.

Every summer, Kathy volunteered at the county fair to raise money for the local school district.

Case Status:
Mark Wangler (Husband), convicted of aggravated murder, sentenced to 25 years to life.

Sources:
An Ohio Mom Is Found Dead From Carbon Monoxide. Was It A Tragic Accident Or Murder?
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered – Where is Ohio anesthesiologist Dr Mark Wangler now?
State v. Wangler, 2012 Ohio 4878
Kathy Wangler Murder: Where is Dr. Mark Wangler Now? –
Did Ohio anesthesiologist gas his wife to death?

Stephen Chin

Photo: An elderly Asian man sits in a yellow chair in a therapy room, holding a hand crank which he is turning. He is wearing a heavy navy coat.Name: Stephen Chin.
Died: September 4, 2006.
Age at death: 63.
Cause of death: Fire.
Location: Daceyville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: SCI; quadriplegic.

Details:
Knowing he could not move himself from his bed, Stephen’s estranged wife soaked his bedroom in gasoline and set the house on fire. He died in the fire. She told police she killed him so that he could not receive any of their property in their divorce settlement.

Case Status:
Grace Soon (Wife), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 6 years 9 months to 9 years in prison.

Sources:
Wife charged with quadriplegic’s murder
R v Soon
Money ‘motive in quadriplegic’s killing’
Jail for killing “sex orgy” hubby

Lorna McCadden

Blurry black and white photo of Lorna McCaddon, a light-skinned woman with a beehive hairdo, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, photographed outside in a garden.Name: Lorna McCadden.
Died: August 29, 2006.
Age at death: 80.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Penticton, British Columbia, Canada.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.

Details:
Lorna’s husband went to the hospital where she was staying and shot her and then himself in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
John McCadden (Husband), deceased.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Murder/Suicide Update
Elderly Murder-Suicides Indicate Desperation, not Compassion
Elderly couple shot to death at B.C. hospital
Such an ugly unnecessary way to die: Two old, failing lovers might choose to end it all rather than to live apart
Slaying of wife seen as act of compassion

Lakesha Victor

Photo of Lakesha Victor, a girl with a gap-toothed smile. Her head leans against a headrest.Name: Lakesha Victor.
Died: August 20, 2006.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Hinckley, Minnesota, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy.

Details:
Lakesha, who was supposed to be given formula through her feeding tube, was not fed often enough. She lost weight rapidly and soon starved to death.

Case status:
Ludusky Sue Hotchkiss (Mother), pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, sentenced to 32 months.
Ti-Heim Darrien Coston (Caregiver, mother’s boyfriend), charged with neglect, theft, and failure to report.

Source:
Arrest in girl’s starving death
“I didn’t notice. I wish I had.” Hotchkiss pleads guilty to manslaughter in daughter’s death
MN: Lakesha Victor – Disabled, Abused, Neglected, Dead
Autism Memorial: Lakeisha Victor
Mom Starved Disabled Daughter to Death, Say Cops